Wednesday, January 25, 2012

El Segundo was formerly known as an aerospace hub in the shadow of Los Angeles International Airport and a refinery town — its name derives from the 1911 selection of the spot by Standard Oil Co. of California for the company's second oil refinery.

But recently the city has begun to attract a variety of creative businesses that might once have looked down their noses at the humble burg of 17,000 residents.

I've written many times about my affection for my daytime hometown of El Segundo. But I take exception to the categorization that my work--and that of my colleagues--is not "creative".

I was so mad to read a LAT columnist describe ES as "lily-white", I didn't trust myself to blog about it at the time. Take a look at the school demographics. Take a look around at lunch-time. Not only is the town diverse, but the dining parties are diverse. That is, friendships form over shared interests beyond superficial ones of race.

The farmers' market is also fun. I wore a me-made linen skirt to the market last summer before dining at the Farmstand.

I think the LA Times' coverage of the South Bay is significantly lacking too. The LA Weekly doesn't do much better, nor do any of the other area papers - even our own Daily Breeze. We must not be a big enough market for them to care about.

As for convincing people that engineers and scientists are creative? I've given up fighting that battle long ago.

I guess the South Bay is so full of creative people making things that we don't have time to read the papers.

For "must not be a big enough market" read "perceived as full of flaky beach people and other marginal segments of society without motivation, ambition, or cash to spend". This would be notably dissimilar to the non-flaky Hollywood crowd.